Twist of Fate: A Force To Be Reckoned With
by whoa nellie
Summary: When Voyager sets down for maintenance, they discover that they've been lured into a trap. Cf, K7, crew.


Title: Twist of Fate: A Force To Be Reckoned With

Author: Whoa Nellie

Series: Voyager

New

Rating: PG-13

Codes: C/f, K/7, crew

Synopsis: When Voyager sets down for maintenance, they discover that they've been lured into a trap. Originally posted to ASC on January 14, 2007.

Author's Notes: Feel free to archive to any pertinent site. This story does stand on its own, not necessary to have read the previous stories except for more detailed background information on Ceshlyta and how she got there.

Previous stories from the Twist of Fate storyline (in order): Blessings of the Sky Spirits, Wyrd, What Comes Naturally, Fresh Perspective, Culinary Delights, Chaos Theory, Unforeseen Circumstance, A Matter of Definition, Love and Copulation, Million Kilometer High Club, Comings and Goings, Bare Necessities, Vulnerability, When in Rome, Reporting for Duty, Rights and Wrongs, Proportional Response.

Background: Ceshlyta is Chakotay's wife and soulmate. She is descended from the Inheritors through a different tribe and was joined with Chakotay in a wedding at the Temple of the Sky Spirits before they put her on Voyager. She was a Professor of Botany on Earth when the Sky Spirits joined their souls, intertwined their life paths and put her on Voyager. Her nickname, used by most of the other crew members, is Sassy.

Acknowledgements: Paramount owns all the marbles, we just have a lot more fun playing with them.

Feedback is always appreciated, posted or e-mail.

A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH

"Doctor, glad to have you back," Sassy greeted the EMH as she stopped in the doorway of his office in Sickbay.

The EMH looked up from the reports he was reviewing. "Professor Ceshlyta, I've been meaning to stop by the garden. I delivered your message to your family; needless to say they were quite overjoyed. Mr. Barclay is arranging for them to get a message into the next data stream from Earth, but your father asked me to tell you 'Blessings and love follow you on your new path'."

"I included a letter to them in this month's data stream," she said; "but I am grateful that you talked to them personally, thank you. There is actually another reason that I stopped by, though, a medical reason."

The Doctor immediately reached for a tricorder. "Have you talked to Mr. Paris about this? What are your symptoms?"

"I know what it is," Sassy waved him off and made herself comfortable in the chair across from him. "At least I'm pretty sure; I just need you to check everything out before I tell Chakotay. I've been waiting for you to get back since there's nothing Tom could have done regardless."

Sitting back in his chair, he shot her his most supercilious expression. "At some point you will need to be more precise about the nature of 'it'."

"Pregnancy," she replied. "By my guess, I'm more than seven weeks pregnant. I've been waiting to be sure before I say anything to Chakotay. I know his first concern will be the health of the baby--especially genetic, so I'd like you to run a full scan. He will know whatever you find no matter what, I just want to have it already in hand when I tell him so he doesn't have to spend any time worrying needlessly."

"Sensory tremens," the EMH acknowledged the issue she had skirted. "Go on out and hop up on a biobed. I'll be right out and we'll get started."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sassy was already in their quarters when Chakotay got home after his duty shift. He paused to drop a perfunctory kiss on her lips. "We've found a place to set down for maintenance and the modifications for family quarters. You'll need to secure the garden for a landing, but we've got plans in place to keep the garden powered up while we're on the ground. We'll be landing day after tomorrow so that we can be back up in time for the next data stream from Earth."

"Hi, sweetheart, how was your day?" Sassy asked with an amused smile. "Mine was fine, nice and quiet."

He hung his head with a chagrined look. "I'm sorry, everybody on the bridge has been excited about this since they returned our transmission and talked with Captain Janeway this afternoon."

"So it's an inhabited planet," she surmised.

"Yes, it was in the information we got from Vog Nevane's people. They call their planet Arakne and they've got a landing area that they've designed and set aside for large ship maintenance. It's sort of a space port except it's on the ground. Nevane's ship couldn't land so they didn't know much about the landing area, but they noted that the Arakneans were very friendly and traded fairly with them while they were in orbit. They were very excited about our arrival. The landing area is not in use by anyone else right now and they've extended an invitation to us for as long as we need."

Sassy picked up the PADD on the coffee table. "That sounds nice and it's timely, too."

"What does that mean? Is there a problem with the garden?" he asked.

"No," she toyed with the PADD. "I saw the Doctor today."

He couldn't help but grin. "Voluntarily?"

She chuckled at that. There were very few people on Voyager she didn't get along with and the EMH was one of them. Things had settled down as time passed and a professional civility had developed between them. The Doctor had been kind enough to deliver the message to her family while he was back in the Alpha Quadrant, but her avoidance of Sickbay for anything other than absolutely essential visits was not exactly a secret. "Yes, I was a big girl and went to the Doctor all by myself today."

Picking her up from her seat on the couch, he sat down with her on his lap. His fingers combed through the silky, long, black hair hanging loose down her back. "Are you all right? I know you've been a little tired lately."

"I'm pregnant--almost two months pregnant," she told him, caressing his cheek and the dimple that immediately appeared with his broad grin. "I started to suspect a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted him to do a complete analysis to make sure everything was all right before I told you. He finished just a little while ago; your son is perfectly healthy."

The words 'perfectly healthy' echoed in his ears as his lips claimed hers in a deep, passionate kiss; he was going to be a father. His arms cradled her, her body snuggled comfortably against him and her arms wrapped around his neck to hold him close to her. Adrenaline surged through his body, excitement at her news hardening his body with desire for her as well as the family she was giving him. Something else she said suddenly broke through and he pulled back to search her face. "Son?"

"The genetic analysis included the sex of the baby," Sassy said. "I wanted to know; I hope you didn't want to wait and be surprised."

"No," he couldn't seem to stop smiling. "The only thing that really matters is that it's --he's healthy; but it's nice to know." His hand moved to her abdomen and slipped beneath her top to tenderly caress the smooth, tanned flesh there.

Arching into the pressure of his hand, she let out a soft sigh. "You know, we could take this conversation into the bedroom."

"Can we?" he asked stilling the motions of his hand. "I mean is it okay?"

"I'm pregnant, not dying; it's fine. I'm perfectly healthy and so is the baby; unless you'd like to call Sickbay and ask the Doctor's permission to--"

He cut off her reply with a deep, dizzying kiss and stood up, cradling her. She snuggled against his chest with her arms draped loosely around his shoulders, completely at peace in his arms. He wanted to make a ship-wide announcement, yell the news in the center of the mess hall or something and yet he also wanted to celebrate the good news with the woman he carried into the bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Janeway sauntered into the garden swinging her fencing foil. Voyager was on the ground and all of the planned work was underway. The landing area was surrounded by a beautiful, forested area and a campsite had been set up beyond the landing pad where Voyager sat. Chakotay and she had made up a schedule that allowed the crew ample time to enjoy some down time while they were on the surface and she was hoping to take advantage of that for herself. She found Sassy back in the coffee tree grove picking ripe coffee berries. "If you aren't too busy, I thought we could both do with a break. There's a small clearing not too far from here where we could do some sparring with the foils; I'm still having some trouble with that last combination move you showed me."

Sassy nodded enthusiastically. "Chakotay's busy overseeing the interior modifications to create the two-bedroom suites, so I'm all yours. I just need to stop by and pick up my foil."

"I've got Tom, Harry and Seven modifying the Delta Flyer to do a baryon sweep of Voyager while we have the opportunity," Janeway said. "I'll check in with them on their progress and meet you outside."

"Baryon sweep?" Sassy asked. "Is there anything I need to do with the garden to prepare for that?"

"No, baryon sweeps are dangerous to flesh, so we'll need to make sure that all personnel are evacuated from the ship during the sweep, but there's no reason to worry about the plants. I'll see you outside in a few minutes."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Harry was approaching the Flyer from the campsite that Neelix had set up for crew who wanted to sleep outside. He had a lunch basket in his hand and was whistling until he saw Janeway walking toward him from the direction of Voyager.

"At ease, Ensign," Janeway said. "I was just coming by for an update."

"We've finished the modifications," he told her. "It's all ready to go whenever you want, so Seven and I were going to go on a picnic. With your permission, ma'am."

"By all means," she replied. "Enjoy."

Harry found Tom and Seven reviewing the final diagnostic on their modifications. "I ran into Janeway outside," he said. "I told her that we were finished."

"And we are," Tom replied.

"The diagnostic revealed no anomalous readings from the modifications," Seven informed him. "It will take approximately seven hours to complete a thorough baryon sweep of Voyager."

Harry held his arm out to her. "Right now, it's lunchtime. Let's have that picnic; see you later, Tom."

With her arm nestled in the crook of his elbow, Seven walked alongside Harry in a comfortable silence. Over the course of their relationship, they had both grown more familiar with each other's personalities. He made noticeably less idle conversation with her than he had in the early days of their relationship and she had found herself making more conversation about non-duty-related subjects than she had prior to the initiation of her relationship with Harry. She had also learned a great deal about how he thought; the fact that he did not invite Tom and B'Elanna to join them on their picnic indicated his intention to engage in activities of an amorous nature either before or after lunch. Holding his arm a bit tighter, tingles of anticipation began fluttering in her stomach. "Perhaps we should take this picnic back to your quarters," she suggested.

Shooting her a suggestive wink and grin, he shook his head no. "There aren't many opportunities like this one. I want to take advantage of it and introduce you to the wonders of nature."

"You wish to take advantage of me," she corrected him, a smile playing across her lips. "Is there not a risk of being seen or heard by others?"

Harry stopped and pulled her in front of him, his hand resting at the small of her back to press her closer. "I'm not the one who announced the status of our sex life to a room full of people once."

"So you have already informed them of your plan to copulate with me," she said; "Or do you wish me to make that announcement?"

"No," he replied with a soft chuckle. As she matured and grew comfortable with him and their relationship, she was developing a wicked sense of humor. She knew enough about human behavior and figurative speech to push just the right buttons with her teasing, although she didn't do it often; as far as he knew, she only teased like that with him. He liked it. "No on both counts; nobody else needs to know. The risk is part of the fun, but I've also found a place where the risk is low enough for my comfort; I'm no exhibitionist, even after that time in Arboria."

Seven licked her lips at that memory; two weeks in a region where men were not permitted to wear clothing. "I greatly enjoyed that time."

Nuzzling her cheek, he whispered softly. "So did I." He dropped a quick kiss on those full, tempting lips and grabbed her hand. "This way."

She followed Harry through the woods to a patch of dense branches and underbrush blocking their way. He released her hand and pulled the foliage aside to reveal a small, hidden dell completely surrounded by trees and brush. She entered ahead of him, anticipation flaring into desire. Lush, green grass covered the small clearing like a thick carpet inviting them to make themselves comfortable. Taking the blanket that Harry had tucked into the basket, she found a good place to spread it out. She had started wearing her hair down shortly after that time in Arboria in addition to a change to a more comfortable, loose-fitting jumpsuit and low-heeled boots which she now kicked out of before reaching for the fastening of her jumpsuit. "I do not wish to wait until after lunch."

"Your wish is definitely my desire," he said.

A long time later, Harry looked down at Seven laying on the ground beside him and realized that she was unconscious and barely breathing. "Seven?" Frantic, Harry reached for his communicator to call for medical assistance. His communicator was unresponsive so he found hers but it wouldn't work either. Panicked, he kept calling her name as he carefully gathered her in his arms and started back toward camp as fast as he could go with his precious, unconscious bundle.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Time out," Sassy gasped. She collapsed onto the grass breathing heavily.

Janeway dropped down beside her with a chuckle. "This is a switch; normally I'm the one needing a rest period. Either I'm getting better or you should see the Doctor."

"Already done," she panted. "I'm fine, just tired, which is to be expected during pregnancy."

"Pregnancy?"

Sassy sat up, wiping her face. "The Doctor just confirmed the pregnancy and the health of the baby a couple days ago; I'm surprised that Chakotay hasn't mentioned it yet."

Giving her friend a warm hug, she replied. "This is wonderful, how far along are you?"

"About seven weeks," she said, "with a boy. Before you ask, I'm fine other than having a little less energy than usual and some queasiness. I've already got herbs in the garden that help with that, but at some point I may need an extra hand or two in the garden. Chakotay is already looking at working it into the duty roster; he's been very excited."

"I can imagine," Janeway smiled.

Sassy cocked her head, listening. "Do you hear that?" She tapped her communicator to call Chakotay but nothing happened.

"What?"

"Screams, fighting," she stood up and gripped her foil tighter. "It's coming from the direction of Voyager."

Janeway hurried over to where her uniform jacket hung on a tree branch and tried her communicator. "Janeway to Chakotay; Janeway to Tuvok, respond."

Sassy and Janeway exchanged glances during the silence that followed and both of them broke into a run back toward Voyager, their fencing foils held at the ready. Just before they reached the landing area where Voyager sat, they encountered a group of men wielding clubs and swords attacking a group of Voyager's security forces who were trying to establish a defensive perimeter. The two women attacked from behind, their light blades slashing through the clothing and skin of the attackers but too flimsy to do much real damage. Caught between the security personnel and Janeway and Sassy, the attackers soon broke off and fled toward the mountain.

On the other side of the landing area, Harry stumbled into the fight as he neared Voyager's position. He carefully laid Seven at the base of a large tree and positioned himself to defend her. Two men attacked him, both wielding large clubs. He sidestepped the closer attacker, shoving him into the other man. Several small and medium-sized rocks on the ground provided him with projectiles which he threw at the attackers to keep them on the defensive. They split up, forcing him to divide his efforts and then attacked him from different sides. He chose the smaller of the two men to take on first, barely managing to block a blow from the man's club which would have most likely rendered him unconscious. He didn't entirely block the shot and winced at the glancing blow it struck on his shoulder. He ignored the pain and pivoted into the attacker's momentum to deliver a hard elbow to the man's midsection immediately following it up by slamming the back of his fist into the man's face. Wrenching the club out of his grasp, Harry swung it toward the second man's legs and landed a solid blow to his knee. A yell from the direction of Voyager sent both men limping and scrambling away, into the woods heading toward the mountain. It took a moment to catch his breath, but Harry wanted to get the still-unconscious Seven back to the ship; so he hoisted her over his shoulder and grabbed up the club with his free hand just in case those men came back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Janeway looked around at the members of her senior staff, all of them bearing signs of the recent battle. "All right, what's the situation?"

"Doc's offline," Tom offered first. "We can't even get his mobile emitter operating and Seven is comatose but I can't tell you any more than that without a tricorder."

Chakotay shook his head. "Nothing is working at the moment; every bit of equipment went down at the same time, from the warp core right down to our communicators."

Tom nodded. "Sassy is doing what she can for the wounded with stuff from the garden, but those plants aren't going to last long like this."

"Dampening field?" Harry wondered aloud. "It would have to be pretty powerful to take Seven's cortical node offline, but it would explain everything."

Chakotay concurred with him. "They attacked not ten minutes after the everything went down and, for a technologically-advanced race, they attacked with non-energy weapons."

"Almost as if they knew that energy-based weapons wouldn't be working," Janeway followed along the train of thought. "I'm getting the feeling that we've been led into a trap of some sort. Dampening field seems like the most likely explanation."

Tuvok spoke up. "May I suggest that we prepare a defense in the event that those men return in greater numbers?"

"Good thinking," Janeway acknowledged. "I want everyone to gather anything that could be used as a weapon; we need to inventory what we've got to work with. Tuvok, I'm assuming your security people have already been posted as lookouts."

"They have."

"All right then," she replied. "Let's get to work."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chakotay nodded to the man Sassy was working on. She was slathering some salve on a nasty-looking gash before wrapping it in a make-shift bandage. "How are you doing, crewman?"

"Fine, sir."

Sassy checked the ties one last time. "I'd tell you to take it easy with that arm, but given the current situation I think I'll save my breath. You're good to go."

"Thank you, ma'am. Excuse me, sir."

After he was gone, Chakotay pulled her to him, holding her nestled against his chest. "How are you doing, aalm?"

"Fine," she murmured, snugly ensconced in his arms. "What's going on?"

"It looks like this was a trap," he told her. "Nevane's people couldn't land so they had no idea. There's probably a dampening field neutralizing our technology; we're gathering anything that could be used as weapons in case they come back. I'm heading to our quarters, but all I've got there is my carving knife and boxing gloves. What do you have?"

Sassy thought for a second. "I've got my foil here with me, the broadsword, sabre and epee are in their sheaths in the top of my closet and the dagger I picked up on Techora is in the bedside table on my side of the bed."

He chuckled softly. "My civilian, pregnant wife is better armed than I am. I'm guessing Captain Janeway has almost as many sharp objects as you do."

"Except for the dagger, yes--"

Tom interrupted them. "Pregnant? You're pregnant?"

Sassy eyed him in bemusement. "If you're talking to Chakotay, then no; but if you mean me, yes."

"You can't have a baby," Tom said, his eyes a bit wild, "not now, not here; I can't deliver a baby here."

Sassy forestalled any further comments from either man. Chakotay had visibly tensed at Tom's outburst and she realized that he was just connecting the fact that they had no doctor with the impending birth of his son. "Relax, both of you. I'm not even two full months into this pregnancy. I am going to be pregnant for about thirty-one more weeks, give or take, and the Doc just gave me a clean bill of health before we landed here. I am fine and I will be fine as long as you all fix this situation in less time than the baby has left to gestate."

Chakotay dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "That's a promise."

"That goes double for me," Tom echoed. "I am not delivering any babies."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Janeway surveyed the meager collection of weapons. Sassy and she each had four swords of various types plus Sassy's dagger. Olandra Jor also had daggers, two Cardassian daggers she had obtained back in the Alpha Quadrant; Neelix had collected the knives from the mess hall which could be distributed. Tom and Harry both had their hockey sticks, Tom also had his bat'leth and Harry had the club he'd taken from his earlier attackers. Tuvok had a couple of ancient Vulcan weapons and was already working on fashioning a bow and arrows for himself and arrows for Ensign Lang who had an old crossbow that had belonged to her father. She'd never fired it at anything other than a stationary target and hadn't used it in years but Tuvok had pronounced it fit for use. Jenny Delaney's bullwhip had raised a few eyebrows but an impromptu demonstration on a nearby tree had assured them of its effectiveness in a fight.

"I've been thinking about this dampening field," Tom said after the inventory of weapons was completed. "When we approached, the Arakneans directed us to look for the pillars at each end of this valley; they said that they were guide posts."

Tuvok finished another arrow and set it aside with the others. "They could contain the technology necessary to emit a dampening field, but this is a large valley for only two emitters to be effective."

"Not necessarily," Harry interjected. He knelt down and quickly sketched an outline of the valley in the dirt, pinpointing the location of each of the guide posts and Voyager. "With those mountains all around us, if those two pillars interlink with each other they could essentially blanket the valley with a dampening field. They're really only creating a small bubble and using the existing geography to force us under it."

"If that's the case," Chakotay said, "then taking either of the pillars out should eliminate the field."

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir and this one here would be the closest." He drew a circle in the dirt around the closer pillar on his rough sketch.

"All right then," Janeway picked up Sassy's broadsword and handed it to Chakotay. "Commander, I want you to take a team and disable the nearest pillar. Without an EMH, I'm going to need Tom here and I'll also need to keep Sassy and Tuvok to help defend Voyager in the event of another attack. Take what weapons and any other crew members you think you'll need to take it out."

Chakotay accepted the sword and looked at it dubiously. "Aye, Captain."

Janeway couldn't resist. "Aren't you glad your wife and I play with swords so often?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tom handed B'Elanna his bat'leth. "You be careful."

"Thanks," she hefted the weapon a bit distastefully. "Maybe I should take the hockey stick and you hang on to this."

Tom leaned in and covered her lips with his in a deep, dizzying kiss. He pushed the bat'leth to the side and pulled her into his arms holding her close. "I mean it, B'Elanna, be careful out there. I wish I was going with you."

"So do I," she sighed.

Across the compound, a similar conversation was taking place. "You be careful," Sassy told Chakotay as she showed him how to grip the sword and a couple of basic moves.

"You, too," he replied, sliding the sword into the sheath slung across his back. "I wish you were coming with us, you're probably a better woodsman than I am."

"Of course I am," she winked. "Unfortunately, there aren't many of the crew who know more than the basic fighting skills they teach in the Academy. Voyager can't fall to the Arakneans before you disable this dampening field. I can do more to help here."

"I don't want to think about you and my son in the middle of some free-for-all battle," he whispered.

Sassy rose up on her toes to crush her lips against his; mindless of their location, she forced her tongue into his mouth, deepening the kiss. After a long moment, she reluctantly pulled away and found his left hand to place a lingering kiss on the wedding rings in his palm. She caressed the mark with her cheek before clasping his hand with hers, pressing their markings together. There was nothing to say; this was a desperate situation with no easy way out. When your home was being invaded, everyone who could fight had to do their part and they both knew that. "Who else are you taking with you?"

"Harry and B'Elanna to figure out how to disable their technology," he said, "and Jor, Ayala and Dalby. They have the most hand-to-hand experience against Cardassians so they'll be good to have if we have to fight our way to the pillar."

"Harry's over saying goodbye to Seven," Sassy told him. "Give him a minute; I'll send him over to you."

Chakotay leaned in for another kiss. "I love you; be safe."

"I love you, too, mi aalm," she replied. "Come back to me."

Harry heard someone approaching and knew he'd have to leave soon. He was kneeling beside Seven wishing there was some way he could talk to her, tell her goodbye, tell her that he loved her, anything. She just laid there, pale and fragile-looking; he combed her hair back with his fingers and gently placed a kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Seven."

"It's time, Harry," Sassy said softly.

He nodded and reluctantly stood. "Take care of her for me, okay?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was only a couple of hours later before she saw them coming. Carefully descending from her perch near the top of a tree where she'd been keeping a lookout, she dropped the final meter or so to the ground and immediately braced herself against the tree trunk as a wave of nausea rolled across her stomach. "Not now, little one, mommy's a bit too busy to be sick." Idly she wondered if telepathic women could actually have such conversations with their unborn children.

"Are you all right?" Janeway asked.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Fine, just got a little queasy there for a second. They're coming, but they're being a little more cautious this time around. There are large groups coming from two directions; it's hard to get an exact count with groups that large but I'm guessing eighty to a hundred coming from each direction.

"Boxing us in," Janeway said.

"Chakotay and his team are a little higher up, right at the base of the mountain," Sassy told her. "They should be able to slip right past them. I'd say we have about an hour and a half, maybe two before they get here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chakotay held the group up when he saw Ayala signal his return from scouting ahead. They all dropped to the ground and kept their voices low. "What is it?"

"Hostiles," he reported. "A good-sized company of them a little ways ahead of us and moving this way. If we move up further on the side of the mountain, we should be able to get past them unnoticed."

Jor reached out to get Chakotay's attention. "We might be able to help the crew back at the ship out a little here," she offered.

"What have you got in mind?"

"Those rocks," she pointed. "If we trigger a landslide we might be able to slow them down; if we're lucky we could even take some of them out."

B'Elanna echoed Jor's plan. "As soon as we take out the dampening field, our people will be able to use phasers to defend Voyager. If we can slow down the Arakneans, that'll buy us a little more time."

"All right," Chakotay agreed. "The main group needs to keep moving; Ayala, you and Dalby stay here and do that then catch up. Just trigger the landslide, do not engage them. Understood?"

"You got it, chief," Ayala acknowledged.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tuvok signaled his sighting of the approaching enemy across the clearing to Lang. The two of them were in the trees to provide cover fire and break up any trouble spots if it looked like Voyager's line of defense was weakening. With his bow and a good supply of arrows he could cover a large portion of the field. Lang's crossbow had a longer range, but with her limited Starfleet field experience he had his doubts that she would be able to provide more than a scattering fire. Firing at a living being, even in defense, was not as easy as shooting an inanimate target. He waited for her to acknowledge his signal and relay it to Janeway. The instant Captain Janeway gestured, he fired at the man leading the attackers nearest his position and watched him fall. Across the clearing, Lang should have been making a similar shot at the group advancing from that direction, but Tuvok kept his focus on the task at hand.

Janeway saw the signal and gripped her foil a bit tighter before giving the silent command. The foil and epee were both more difficult weapons to wield than the saber and broadsword, so she'd kept those two weapons with her, allowing other crew to use the rest of her weaponry. Sassy had opted to only hold onto her foil and had spent a brief bit of time showing Vorik how to wield the epee based on his limited experience in ancient Vulcan weaponry at the Vulcan Defense Institute. They were quite the motley crew and many of the crew were wielding nothing more than rocks that they'd collected to throw, but they were all determined to hold fast. The children had been placed inside the Delta Flyer in spite of Icheb's insistence that he could help. All of the crew were wearing hand phasers to use as soon as they got word that the dampening field went down. Once power was back on, Icheb had instructions to raise shields around the Flyer to protect the children until they'd finished mopping up outside.

The first yells were more of surprise after Tuvok and Lang fired the first volley of shots into the two main groups--they'd surrounded the clearing from a distance and were slowly closing the circle, but they had maintained two large phalanxes to divide and cut through Voyager's defensive line. Janeway had assigned Tom to hold one line with Sassy to help him and she was holding the other. She met the attack head on, slashing fiercely with both weapons trying to injure the attackers enough to give the crew behind her any advantage she could. Any exposed bit of skin was a target for her blades and one attacker fell to the ground holding the gash she opened across his throat. A length of chain whipped around and slammed into her shoulder; she staggered, the arm numb and the foil dropping to the ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chakotay sketched out the area around the marker in the dirt with his team huddled around. "We've got ten guards; Ayala, Dalby, Jor and I will go after them. Harry, you and B'Elanna go straight for the marker and disable it as fast as you can. Yell as soon as it's done and we'll finish up with the phasers."

"Yes, sir," Harry whispered.

Chakotay gestured to Ayala and Jor. "You two circle around and come in from here, go for these guards. Dalby, these two are your primary target and I'll take these over here. Harry, you and B'Elanna hold back until I clear a path to the marker and then make a run for it while we keep them occupied."

Ayala stood. "Give us five minutes to get into position."

Chakotay nodded and watched them disappear among the rocks that littered the ridge where the marker stood. Dalby left just after that to find a better vantage point to surprise his targets from, leaving Chakotay, B'Elanna and Harry to wait and watch in silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sassy was trying to pick and choose her targets to maximize injury without the risk of death but the mayhem around her was making it difficult. It wasn't like she'd never killed before, but it was something she wasn't keen on repeating if she could help it. Turning the foil grip in her hand, she drove the hilt into one attacker's jaw and smoothly spun to meet another. A sound behind her sent her whirling around to see an Araknean with his own weapon raised to strike her; her heart jumped at the realization that she didn't have time to do any more than watch his hand fall. Just then he stiffened and dropped his weapon, falling to the ground with Tom hefting a blood-spattered hockey stick behind him. She nodded her gratitude which he returned with a small smile before they both turned to rejoin the battle.

Across the battlefield, Janeway barely managed to block a blow. Her right arm was still useless and she'd sustained several other cuts and bruises in addition to what felt like a dislocated shoulder but she'd continued to fight with the epee in her left hand. From what she could see, Voyager's line was holding but at a bloody and brutal price. A club drove into her knee, sending her to the ground. She rolled in an attempt to avoid the follow-up blow that she knew would be coming. A hand caught the club in mid-air, just centimeters from her face and wrenched it away to turn it on the Araknean. Two hard blows to the man's head sent him reeling back and she looked up to see Tabor, breathing hard and bleeding from several wounds of his own but wielding the club to protect her from the fighting going on around them. He extended a hand to help her up, reaching back down to retrieve her epee for her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Just before Chakotay got up to clear the way, he pulled B'Elanna closer and whispered softly, "watch Harry's back."

B'Elanna just nodded, all of Harry's experience outside of the Academy was aboard Voyager and hand-to-hand combat was not something he'd had much experience with.

"Wait for a clear shot to the marker," Chakotay whispered to Harry. "As soon as you've got the marker disabled, start trying to contact Voyager to let them know."

Harry stopped him with a hand on his arm. "With a dampening field, it might take a minute or two for the communications system to re-initialize."

"Let's hope not," Chakotay replied. He sidled over to a better position before checking that the rest of the team were at their designated positions and ready to go. At his nod, the four of them launched themselves at their targets, trying to create as much confusion as possible. The fighting was intense, chaotic and brutal. From the corner of his eye he saw Harry and B'Elanna running toward the marker and one of the Arakneans saw it, too. Chakotay gave a vicious slash of the broadsword, cutting the man down before he could yell a warning. He recoiled from a heavy blow, his boxing experience the only thing keeping him on his feet until his head cleared.

Harry reached the marker just before B'Elanna but it took them both several harried seconds of searching to locate the access panel for the controls. B'Elanna found it and Harry lifted his hockey stick into an attack position to watch for any of the guards that might try to stop them. "Hurry up," he hissed.

"I'm working as fast as I can here, Starfleet," B'Elanna grunted back. Finally, she found the catch that released the cover but had to duck as an Araknean stumbled into her following a solid check from Harry and his hockey stick.

"Can you see a power supply?" Harry asked when a quick glance over his shoulder told him that she'd managed to open the access panel.

B'Elanna peered inside, squinting to see into the darker recesses of the marker. "I'm seeing a lot of things, I'm just not sure what's what."

Harry stopped long enough to look over her shoulder. "If we smash the whole thing we might eliminate any chance to shut it down. We need to figure out where the power's coming from."

"No kidding," B'Elanna snapped back in frustration. "Massive power needs means this thing probably has an underground power source so the energy feeds should be leading down."

Harry nodded. "Right."

B'Elanna grabbed Harry's arm, jerking him off his feet and sending him sprawling a meter away. With her other hand, she swung the bat'leth toward an approaching Araknean. It wasn't a strong blow; it just glanced off his forearm, but it gave her time to re-position herself for a better blow. "Get to work, Starfleet, and make it fast."

Harry scrambled to his feet and quickly began mentally cataloguing the conduits and connections inside the marker. In the back of his mind visions of Seven, comatose and getting weaker by the moment, urged him to use his hockey stick to smash the controls but her voice with its analytical perspective stayed his hand. It was an unacceptable risk to smash controls that he might need or that might cause an explosion; it was more logical to isolate probable power couplings and disengage them--less statistical chance of an error. A smile played across his lips at the thought of Seven's eyebrow arching as she made such an observation. He ignored the smaller connections as unlikely to be carrying power and focused on the larger conduits. Buried behind a tangle of wires and cable was a large tube warm to the touch and almost pulsing in his hand. Unfortunately the connections for the tube was beyond his reach at either end. A club glanced off of B'Elanna's shoulder and grazed his head; the recoil sent his forehead slamming into the rim of the access panel. With blood rushing down his face, he gripped the tube in both hands and pulled upward as hard as he could. The connection held tight for several seconds and then snapped, uncontrolled energy shooting through the pillar. Harry screamed as his hands and arms were burned in the instant before he could pull them free.

B'Elanna jerked the bat'leth out of the body of one man and turned to check on Harry's progress when she heard him yell. As soon as she realized what was happening, she pulled him away from the pillar, dragging him several meters away in case it exploded. Relieved when the pillar flared for several seconds and then went completely dark, she tapped her communicator and heard the tell-tale chirp. "It's down," she yelled to the others as she drew her own phaser. "B'Elanna to Tom," she kept repeating into the communicator, hoping for a response.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sassy was struggling to stay on her feet. The adrenaline rush that accompanied the early stages of the battle had long worn off and fear for her own safety as well as her baby was all that was keeping her going. The pregnancy was taking its toll on her endurance, however, with her legs threatening to give out and her movements with the foil getting shakier by the minute. A whining noise in her ears made her wonder if she was losing consciousness when she realized that the Arakneans were falling to the ground all around her. She looked around to see Janeway coming up behind her, taking aim with her phaser and yelling to the Arakneans to stand down from the attack. Giving in to her exhaustion, Sassy dropped where she was standing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Janeway boarded the Aeroshuttle after a long meeting with the leader of the Arakneans. As much as she wanted to just collapse onto the nearest seat, it wouldn't be a very captainly display to her security detail boarding the shuttle just behind her. In addition to the phasers that they all wore, Janeway had worn her broadsword in its sheath slung on her back and her security detail were both carrying sabers. Even the security officers left to secure the shuttle had been sporting bat'leths, not really out of necessity and she wasn't even sure they knew how to wield them effectively, but it made for an intimidating sight. She unbuckled the scabbard and laid it across the console in front of her, patting it with a light chuckle. All of the hours she'd spent with Sassy learning to use the various types of swords had come in handier than she could have ever imagined. She'd bet a week's replicator rations that Tuvok would be submitting a proposal for primitive weapons training for his security officers within the week.

"Ready for take-off, Captain," Ensign Lang reported.

"Acknowledged, let's go home," she said. Of course the Arakneans had disavowed any knowledge of the dampening field or the 'renegades' who had attacked them, but she didn't intend to stay any longer than absolutely necessary. It would take hours to get Voyager ready for take-off and a security team was holding position at the downed marker to ensure that it wasn't re-activated in the meantime. A Class R planetoid in a nearby comet would be less comfortable for the duration of maintenance and the baryon sweep, but it would be safer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry woke with a start and immediately regretted the sudden movement. His entire body was throbbing in pain; it took him a moment to re-construct the events of the past day. "Seven."

"I am right here; you should lie still," she told him, pressing him back down on the biobed. "You have suffered severe injuries."

"You're all right," he sighed in relief.

Seven caressed his forehead, brushing hair from his face. "Obviously as I am sitting beside you. You, however, are not all right. I have been worried about you. The Doctor has instructed me to tend to your injuries as Tom and he are quite busy. Would you like a drink of water before I continue?"

Harry nodded yes and tried to raise his head but he couldn't manage more than a few millimeters before giving up. "Maybe that's not a great idea," he gasped.

Sliding her hand under his head, she gently lifted him up enough to sip from the glass she held up to his mouth. "I am here to take care of you, Harry, just as you were there to take care of me before. Tom told me how you carried me all the way back and defended me from attackers while I was unconscious; thank you."

"Given when you passed out, you should probably be slapping me instead of thanking me," he remarked ruefully.

Seven settled her lips over his in a tender kiss. "I love you, Harry Kim. I am glad that your injuries will heal; I could not imagine losing you."

"Same here," he replied even as his eyes began drifting shut.

"Sleep now," she instructed him. "I will be right here if you need anything. I will continue working on your wounds while you rest."

Chakotay rushed into Sickbay and rapidly scanned the room, searching for his wife. The Doctor was now back on-line and even with the help of Tom, Samantha and Seven, the Sickbay was overflowing with injured. There had been one fatality among their crew, Terry Milner, an Engineering crewman and many Arakneans had been killed in the fighting; but otherwise Voyager had escaped relatively unscathed. Janeway had informed him of Sassy's collapse as soon as he'd returned with his team, but with getting Voyager ready to get underway while the captain met with the Arakneans, this was the first opportunity he had to come find her.

"I think the person you're looking for is sitting in the Doctor's office," Tom informed him. "We needed the beds."

"Is she all right?" Chakotay asked.

Tom nodded, motioning for his patient to wait a moment and led Chakotay to the office door. "She collapsed mostly from exhaustion, she needs to rest and take it easy for a day or two but her and the baby are both fine. She had a few minor injuries but they've already been tended to. You can take her home now, the Doc just didn't want to release her without someone to walk her back to her quarters--just in case since she's not really steady on her feet quite yet."

Chakotay paused at the doorway, giving Sassy a smile before turning toward Tom. "How's Harry?"

"Stable, but he'll be here for awhile," Tom said. "He got burned pretty badly not to mention the shock to his system. Seven's tending to him so he's getting plenty of TLC in addition to perfect medical treatment."

"I'll stop in and see him later," Chakotay said. He stopped Sassy from standing up, instead moving to sweep her up in his arms. "Tom said you're not steady on your feet so I think it's best if I just carry you back to our quarters."

Sassy slid her arms around his shoulders and snuggled against the broad expanse of his chest. She dropped a quick kiss on his cheek. "It's good to see you too, sweetheart."

Once they had left Sickbay and were heading for the turbolift, Chakotay gave in to the urge to capture her lips with his. Her lips were pliant beneath his mouth but he didn't move to deepen the kiss, content for the moment to just hold her. "Do you have any idea how precious you are to me?" he asked huskily after breaking the kiss.

"I love you, too, mi aalm," she whispered back. She rested her head on his shoulder, nuzzling his throat in contentment.

"Deck Three," he instructed the lift and shifted her in his arms. "I promise to never again make fun of Kathryn and you playing with swords. I might even have you teach me a trick or two."

"Closing the barn door after the horse is gone is wasteful," she intoned and planted a kiss along his jaw.

"Life is both giving and receiving," he shot back. "If you show me how to use your sword, I'll show you how I use mine."

Sassy leaned her head back to arch an eyebrow at him. "Isn't your sword what got me in this delicate condition to begin with?"

FINIS


End file.
